test drive — winter

[villagemod]

WINTER TEST DRIVE
Welcome to the test drive and thank you for your interest in The Village. This test drive is not game canon but will allow players the opportunity to experiment with game mechanics, the setting, and the flexibility of choice allowed by this game. The following prompts are examples of typical situations characters might face in the game. At least one thread from the TDM is required as part of the game's application process.

The setting details and locations are still being unveiled in the game, so prospective players are welcome to play with established locations or create their own within the general setting of Mathias.

( Recommended listening: ♫ )

---

INTO THE ENDLESS
Winter has arrived in Mathias. Snow falls steadily, big puffy flakes that pile up quickly in drifts as the wind blows them around town. The trees in the forest are covered in it, the branches bending under the weight and shaking when the piles fall from them to the forest floor. The roofs of buildings become solid white and drifts form in doorways as the wind tries to rush inside anywhere it can.

New arrivals wake in the forest, with its winding paths twisting back on themselves as they branch in either direction. It isn't safe to stray from the path, there is a menacing fog that waits just a few yards inward in any direction, but for now, there is nothing impeding movement along those snow-covered paths that cut through the trees. Continue stumbling in one direction and you'll reach the small town, coming out near the mishmash of quaint houses that nestle beside crumbling ruins that used to be homes. But choose the other and you'll seem to stumble on forever, huddling against the wind until there seems to be a clearing up ahead—

And then nothing. The earth opens up before you in a ravine so deep that the bottom cannot be seen. The other side can be seen, tantalizingly out of reach, and there is the sense that safety is just beyond, if only you could get there. But with that sensation is also the knowledge that if you stay here, you will die. The edge seems unsteady, like getting too close would set it crumbling and send you tumbling into that dark endless nothing that waits below...

BODIES WITHOUT SOULS
Benedict Books is nestled quaintly on the square surrounding Mathias's Town Hall, a thick layer of dirt covering the front windows. Looking through those windows provides a much different view than looking directly into the shop through the doorway — vague shapes and forms of figures seem to be inside, though no details can be determined through the streaks of grime. Flickers that resemble flashlights can be seen passing along the windows from time to time, and on occasion there is even a muffled tapping sound that comes from behind the glass, as if someone is trying to get your attention. The same distorted figures can be seen looking through the windows from the inside outward, but moving from one side or the other reveals... nothing. There is nothing there, and perhaps it is all in your imagination.

A portrait hangs at the front of the store to illustrate the namesake of the little shop... that may, in fact, not be so little. Dust covers everything in sight and detritus litters the wooden floor, as if someone left the door open and allowed half the forest inside.

The books are mostly familiar titles from the 1990s and earlier, but close examination will reveal that key details seem to have been changed. They fill shelves in neat lines along the walls and rows in between, the building almost seeming to stretch on forever until, finally, a small office can be seen tucked away in the back. A glance back toward the front door gives the impression that the room isn't that big, after all. Strange that you previously thought so.

Prying the door open is the only way to get inside the small office; the hinges have rusted and are caked with dirt and grime. Search as you might, there are no interesting bits of information to be found here beyond a few inventory lists on the little desk. There is, however, a green and gold safe in the corner that, no matter how many times one turns the dial, simply clicks and clicks. Scratches around the safe indicate that someone tried to get in at one point, though there's no indication as to whether they succeeded.

THE END APPROACHES
Standing at the center of Mathias, the town hall is a modest two-story building that would be welcoming if not for the faded sign, chipped paint, and deafening silence within its empty halls. It's a typical government building, with a reception desk at the front and rows of identical offices within, the names half faded from each door. But what catches the attention is a large bulletin board on the main wall beside the reception desk, once meant to hold flyers or announcements for the community.

What it holds now is decidedly different. Tacked onto the board are scraps of paper covered in an assortment of handwriting styles — requests for supplies should anyone find them, pieces of information shared in the hopes of someone understanding the strange symbols and mathematical equations, notes about those missing or recently deceased. And over the center of the board, tacked on top of other papers, is a map discolored with age. Mathias Township can be read in the corner, a stretch of forest displayed beneath it, but everything else has been smeared to illegibility with red... ink? Upon close examination, a keen eye will realize that the ink is actually blood, though whether it is human is unknown. And scrawled across that forest, nearly covering the illustration of a clearing and a large house within, are the words

he is coming
A number of tarnished metal pushpins are scattered around the edges of the board, waiting for future messages to be shared, and a stack of pristine white paper and pile of cheap ballpoint pens rest on one of three chairs beside the board. The chairs are clearly meant for those waiting for meetings and are covered in the same layer of grime as everything else in the building — everything except the pens, paper, and bulletin board.

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elena gilbert | the vampire diaries

[descendent]

THE ENDLESS.

---

[ she's dead.

lifting her hand to the right side of her neck, she feels blood coat her fingertips. the tear of her skin aches. thankfully, the forest is cold enough to distract her from the throb of her torn and slowly mending skin.

snow clings to her long hair and her clothing, and elena stumbles in the thick of it. she's hardly wearing the right shoes for this, but that hardly matters. she'll find her way out of the forest—it doesn't look like the woods of mystic falls.

she's not home. she knows that. but that doesn't stop her from letting out a frustrated, thick and guttural scream from deep within her throat. wiping the frustrated and angry tears from the corners of her eyes, elena's chest heaves as she tries to catch her breath. ]

Okay, Elena. It's just a forest… with a lot of snow. You've got this.

[ she knows she doesn't have it, but a little cheerleading has never gone astray for her before.

sucking in a breath, she holds it deep within her chest and tells herself she's not afraid. she's not afraid of the big bad wolf and she's hardly afraid of an unknown forest thickly coated in snow.

when she falls, she gets back up, her jeans covered in snow and her hands feeling like ice. tucking her hands into her sides, elena trudges on. nothing will stop her from getting home. she falls a few times, her legs tired, her entire body aching. all she wants to do is sleep, but she keeps pushing herself onwards and upwards. she's elena gilbert. she'll get through this. she'll get out of this forest and into someplace warm and she'll be fine.

except, you know, the thick snow and not knowing where her left and right totally makes her nowhere close to being fine.

when she spies a shadow or silhouette in the distance, her heart spikes and her hope flares with it. ] Hey! Hey! [ she does her best to run after the figure in the thick snow, arms tucked around her sides to stop herself from being overcome with her shivering. ]

BODIES WITHOUT SOULS.

---

[ her mom used to tell her that a lot can be learned about a town from a bookstore. elena has always enjoyed disappearing between the shelves, running her fingers along the spines of different stories. she had always wanted to pull every book off the shelf and hold it in her arms so all those stories could one day be hers.

benedict books is nothing like the bookstores she's seen in virginia. it doesn't appear to be a multiverse tucked away into the corner of a universe waiting for someone like her to explore it. it's a touch disappointing in size, but that doesn't mean there isn't a lot to learn.

wiping her hand against the dusty surfaces, elena peers at the portrait in the hopes it'll reveal its secrets (or speak to her—literally) and she tries to glean some familiarity from the titles along the bookshelves. they're neat and well-sorted, and she's afraid to even dust them off in case she disturbs them. ]

Open up.

[ shouldering her way to the office door, it's difficult to nudge it open. she grits her teeth and pushes against it with all her might, and when it seems to give (either beneath her improved strength or out of pity), she doesn't hesitate to slip inside.

pressing her ear against the safe, she tries her best to slowly turn the dial. elena is absolutely no safe expert—she hardly knows how to set a code—but that doesn't mean she won't try. tongue poking out from between her lips, she concentrates as hard as she can… so hard that she may not hear whoever might be in the bookstore or trying to wedge that stubborn door of the office wide open. ]

WILDCARD/ OOC.

---

[ Feel free to hit me up with anything! I'll match prose or action spam. Elena is from 2x21 (please don't spoil her beyond that point). ]

THE ENDLESS.

[cholesterol]

( Dean keeps his pace up. The further away from the chasm, the less like he feels like he's going to die. Unless he's already dead. Maybe that chasm is permadeath. Empty death. It was quiet. He makes no effort in trying to be stealthy. He doesn't comb through the forest and the snow with care. He's like a bat out of hell that makes it to the surface and keeps flying.

He hears a voice - one that echoes around him having been picked up by the trees.

Hand on the nearest tree trunk, he slows enough to listen again. Is this a trick? A trick to lure him back to the cliff. Is someone else here?

Making a choice, he stops, that stick at his side, gripped tight. He even lets himself catch his breath.

If only he knew what direction the 'Hey!' came from.

He'll wait, but not for long. )

[descendent]

[ after all the things elena has bore witness to, the idea of what she sees ahead of her not being real is far more devastating than anything else. she moves as quickly as she can, growing slightly tired from having to contend with the snow and feelings of ridiculously deep despair.

she runs—and thank god she does—as the figure ahead of her remains solid and in place, and elena thinks happily that she's finally found someone. she sees a profile and starts to appear from his left, covered in snow. ]

Hey. [ this time, it's a loud, breathless and happy thing. his profile is sharper now that she's not so far away, and she's so, so grateful that he stopped. her hair's in her face and her skin is cold and warm and clammy all at once. ]

Are you lost, too?

[cholesterol]

( the young brunette pops up, almost from nowhere (thanks purgatory senses) and dean brings his sharp stick up in front of him, stiffening. she looks like she's suffering, like the cold's getting to her. if dean's honest with himself, the cold is getting to him, too. but, dean always plays through. if he thinks about hypothermia or frostbite, he'll think about everything else.

one thing at a time.

he draws back the stick only slightly. this could be a trick. he's seen his fair share of possessed brunettes. possessed blondes. vamps. werewolves. you name it.

he doesn't let his guard down yet. )

Yeah. You woke up in the woods? ( it's impossible to miss that she won't make it in the woods much longer, that neither of them will if they don't find something other than a gaping chasm. unless she's faking. ) What's your name?

[descendent]

[ gazing down at his stick, elena wishes she had something in her hands other than the tough fabric of her jacket. she'd been too disoriented to even think of trying to dig for a stone beneath the thick coating of snow. at least someone had the sense to pick up something that could help him navigate the snow.

she nods at his question, taking him in for a moment. he doesn't seem like he's someone from around here, and if he is, he's doing a good job in sticking out like a sore thumb, just like her. ]

Elena. [ she wraps her arms around herself more tightly and focuses instead on him. being forthcoming might see an answer appear on the horizon in the form of a nice, warm house. ] You?

[cholesterol]

Dean.

( He's not on a case and not anywhere he recognizes, so saying his real name isn't going to bite him in the ass. He could be any Dean, not just Winchester. If she's looking for him, or she fangirls or fandemons, he'll adjust accordingly. )

That direction you came from, nothing but a cliff and a steep drop.

[descendent]

[ she brushes her hair behind her ear and lets out a breath. she'd had the stupid thought that something could exist at the bottom of the cliff, but she hadn't seen a way down other than falling. ]

I'm guessing you haven't found anything but endless trees and snow?

[ she thinks if he did, he'd either be there or he'd be tugging her along to guide her to the well-hidden safe place. ]

I'm hoping that there's something warm nearby. I thought there'd be a sign, but who puts a sign up in the forest?

[ she lets out an amused puff of air and shakes her head. the woods outside the lockwood cellar had been easier to track from the sounds of the town nearby. here? there's nothing. ]

the endless!

[fika]

[ five had taken into the habit of checking the forest. it wasn't a good habit, inspired by a day-that-wasn't. it's driven by anticipation, the what ifs brought on by this place's unpredictable potential. which means there's a chance in any more of his family arriving.

or perhaps there's answers buried somewhere deep beneath the snow. instead, he hears the spike of a yell in the thickly blanketed forest.

in the blink of a second, five is teleporting forwards, lands a bit off the path, just behind a tree and tucks himself behind it. caution of someone who was too used to needing it and he wasn't going to let that habit drop any time soon.

it's just a young girl, though. looks to be injured, no less. five sighs. he better get her into town and to doc.

so, a kid who looks no older than fourteen is stepping out into the path, snow creaking purposely under his shoes. ] I wouldn't keep walking that way, if I were you.

[descendent]

[ she spins around, brows furrowing at the sound. she looks and sees a young boy, and wonders, briefly, if she's hallucinating. but she doesn't think so. if she was going to hallucinate anyone, it'd be orlando bloom circa pirates (no offence, five).

with her arms wrapped around her, she takes a step forward, feels the thickness of the snow beneath her converse, and then continues on. ]

There's nothing there, is there? [ something deflates in her chest but she ignores it. elena doesn't need to ask the stupid questions this time, as she thinks she can piece it together. he's come from the opposite direction to where she was heading. ] Did you wake up in the snow, too?

[fika]

[ honestly, no offense taken. if you're hallucinating five, that's a doubly bad sign.

she's young - well, way younger than him, really - but the lack of evident panic is as telling as it is a relief. he's shit at comfort. but this way, he can focus on getting her into mathias before she can catch hypothermia in her thin fabric shoes. ] Just a cliff. I checked it out earlier.

[ of course, it helped when you could teleport. a brief shake of his head. ] No - I didn't. Been here a little longer than that.

Town's in this direction. [ he jabs a finger behind him. ] Have you been wandering out here long?

[descendent]

I feel like I've been out here for a few hours. [ it was maybe just an hour. if elena had invested in a watch rather than relying on her dead cellphone, she'd be able to answer him far more accurately.

she brushes her hair behind her ear, feeling relief slowly begin to sink into her bones similarly to how the chill sits on top of her skin. he's already confirmed there's a town, which means there's warmth, which also means there's people.

with a small, amused smile, ] I'm Elena, and I would really appreciate it if you could tell me that the town is really, really warm.

[ lie, five. lie. ]

[fika]

Then let's get moving. [ either way, whether its been one hour or several, exposure is bad. he knows first hand how harsh the cold snap can be in mathias. he knows it a little too well, brushed too close with a cold sort of grasp and a near end and still can't help but flinch any time the fog rolls too close in.

and, for all his instinct of keeping emotions out of things, he still hates the notion of someone else needlessly suffering the same fate.

but, at her question, he...doesn't look particularly convincing. ] Name's Five. And sure, I can tell you that, if you enjoy false senses of comfort. [ lie? haha ]

There's — coffee, and plenty of places to find a coat.

[descendent]

[ she can't help but arch her brow at his name. five, huh? must be a nickname. she knows people will call their children "apple" (but not "kulture" just yet, she's far too early), but she doesn't think they'd name them after numbers. ]

Okay, a coat and potentially decent coffee is a great sense of comfort. I'm not really dressed for snow. [ she releases a small laugh, something that doesn't quite warm her as it should.

she cocks her head to gesture to the direction behind him. ] Do we go the way you came from?

bodies without souls

[endlessflask]

[ The bookstore gives off major creepy vibes. Eliot tries not to pay too much attention to it whenever he has to go by it, or he goes out of his way to avoid it all together. There's just something odd about it, which, in this town, is saying an awful lot.

Still. It's either the bookstore or the library if someone wants books, and the name slapped on the shop brings Eliot a small degree of comfort. Who knows, he wonders, maybe it's even the Benedict he knows. Somehow. Or maybe it's a haunted AF bookstore and Eliot's stepping into something bad.

But for all the activity that can be seen outside, the shop is eerily quiet. He steps through, kicking up dust as he walks, and he thinks he hears something soft in an adjoining room. Trying to wedge the door open is more trouble than it's worth. Eliot, luckily, is slight enough that it doesn't need to open far for him to slip inside. ]

Oh. You're not a ghost, are you?

[descendent]

Do ghosts have better luck finding good books?

[ because if they do, she's definitely not a ghost. her brows do furrow for a moment before she regards him with a small smile. he seems very real, even though elena isn't quite sure if her first thoughts should be "is he real?"

glancing over her shoulder, she shakes her head. ] I don't think there are any ghosts in here, in case you were avoiding one.

[bestfuneralever]

Snow. So much fucking snow. Dallas never had much of it, if any at all, even in the winters, and he kind of got used to that over three years. He's never liked the cold, anyway, because he's always colder than most people (he fully believes it's because he's always got one foot in Death's Door being a medium and all) and when it gets bitterly cold like this, it's impossible for him to warm up again.

But food is a necessity, and he needed some things from the store, so here he is, stomping through the snow-heavy grounds of the town when he suddenly hears someone yelling, trying to call attention. He frowns and pauses, staring out at the almost endless expanse of snow in every direction. Past the outskirts of town, where the forest looks more foreboding than usual. It was probably nothing. In his head. This place playing tricks.

He keeps going, but he hears that voice again and, goddammit, he can't ignore someone like that, can he? He huffs and tugs his leather trench coat tighter around him as he heads toward the sound of the voice. "Hey, I'm out here! I don't know where you are, but just keep coming toward the sound of my voice!"

At least she finally found her way out of the endless snow and to the edge of town, right?

[descendent]

When Elena hears a voice respond, she momentarily thinks she's crazy. It wouldn't be the first time something unexplainable has happened to her. A best friend being possessed by her long dead ancestor and a vampire boyfriend who likes to repeat high school are among the many unexplainable circumstances in her life.

But that voice sounds real. She wants it to be real. Her heart lurches along with her hope and Elena tries to follow it. If she had vampiric hearing, she'd be able to follow it with confidence, but she can only hope the voice will answer her again.

"Are you in the snow, too?" she yells it as loud as she can, knowing it'll burn her throat later on. She tries to walk as fast as she can, feet sinking into the snow. She's unknowingly walking toward the direction of the town that will hopefully help her thaw herself out. "Or are you snow? Because I'm starting to think everything's snow!"

[bestfuneralever]

"Yeah!" He calls back in easy, quick response. Whoever she is, she doesn't deserve to be killed by snow. What? It could happen. People were killed by fog not so long ago, okay. He puts nothing past this place. "I'm near the edge of the town!"

Part of him would rather stay here, stay stationary and still because what if he gets lost, too? She needs something solid to work toward, right? But what if she can follow his voice? Who knows exactly how far away she is. In hearing distance doesn't exactly mean she's close. He bites his lip and hopes he might see evidence of her soon, and decides if he doesn't... he'll just have to venture out into the white and try to find her.

[descendent]

"There's a town?" She sounds a little like she disbelieves that, only because there are no helpful signs saying "TOWN RIGHT OVER HERE." She's a simple girl who expects simple things.

Elena honestly wouldn't be surprised if she was travelling in the wrong direction, hearing a voice that was unfamiliar and not there at all. But what were the chances that she'd be hearing a voice she can't recognise? Isn't it usually a familiar voice drawing you out into the unknown?

She takes stock in her gut telling her that the voice is real, and she ventures straight ahead, hoping with every cell of her being that she's going in the right direction.

And it seems she might be. The snow may be thick and she may be chilled to the bone, but the cluster of trees begins to thin out. A good few minutes later, she'll be able to see the town.

"Please tell me this town has a fire!"

[bestfuneralever]

"Yeah, yeah there is! Hopefully you can find it soon!" He really doesn't wanna go out there. He's cold enough already. Please, universe, be nice for once.

He might make a suggestion to someone in the group about making some sorts of markers for people, so they could find their way back to town if they ended up turned around in this ridiculous expanse of white nothingness.

"We totally have working heat at the boarding house!" He calls out to her. He squints against the falling flakes and-- hey. That's someone, isn't it? He starts waving like he's directing a plane. "Heeeyy! Hey, can you see me? That's you, right?!"

bodies without souls

[zelds]

[ zelda had approached the bookstore for much a similar reason — mortal world or not, it ought to be telling. perhaps there's clues, or, at the very least - a map.

she finds much as she expects on the shelves, unfortunately - boring books that her sister hilda would likely squeal over. texts that are of little interest to zelda spellman.

but its the rustling at the back of the store that really manages to draw her interest, heeled footfalls tempered by a whispered spell and by the time she has view of elena, valiantly trying to open up a safe in this empty, albeit seemingly abandoned town, zelda is leaning against the office's half-opened door. ] Am I to understand you're not local then?

[ zelda's tone is a consistent lilt of authority beneath an adamantine composure; she's carried herself thusly for a very long time. a little bit of annoying displacement wasn't going to change that.

but, it doesn't sound like she's getting ready to admonish elena for doing what she's doing, either. ]

[descendent]

[ elena jumps and leans her shoulder against the safe. although she wants to pretend it's budged, it hasn't.

mouth open, she takes in the woman's rather immaculate appearance and thinks she has the answer to her own question. she doesn't look "local", not that elena would understand what that looks like. the town seems to be made of a patchwork of people of all different shapes, sizes, and names.

brushing her hair behind her ear, she lets out a sheepish huff. ] Is it that obvious?

[ a local, for one, would know how to open a local safe. (or know not to open up something that doesn't belong to them.) ]

[zelds]

Well, you're not under layers of dust, for one, [ its a mild remark, just as she swipes at the surface of the desk.

the girl is young, seemingly only a few years older than sabrina. there's a pang of worry somewhere in her ribs at the thought of her niece.

but no location spell had even come close at revealing any of the rest of the spellman blood here. and so, met with the uncertainty of being completely alone, there's nothing left to do other than carry on. a spellman always does.

it isn't exactly a smile that she offers elena, but there's a curious lilt to her tone. ] I awoke here today, without any memory of ever getting here. Most curious thing.

[descendent]

[ elena feels relieved to know that she's not the only one. waking up alone in a strange place is, unfortunately, something that she's becoming quite used to. waking up in a place with other people who have endured the same kidnapping is the new aspect of the experience.

she lets out a relieved breath. ] I was covered in a blanket of snow.

[ not the most appropriate blanket, given the weather. she leans her weight comfortably against the safe. ]

Usually when people kidnap you, they like to stick around and tell you to stay put. There seems to be no one here who fits that bill.

[zelds]

[ zelda likely hasn't woken up in a strange place since her very early years as a witch - one does like to experiment in their youth. but zelda had shucked the inexperience of youth a very, very long time ago.

otherwise, any displacement thereof is either one she willed for herself, or a deep and unsettling indication of something being terribly wrong. given the circumstance, the latter is the only real option.

no matter. whoever the fool that brought her here may be, they'll come to deeply regret it. (it wasn't the dark lord, either. she's sure of that, as near as she is sure of her name.)

she narrows her eyes, just a touch. elena, do you have...a lot of experience in kidnappings? ] Maybe they were sensible enough to hide before any of us came to our senses.

[ because she'd likely kill them is implied :) she looks towards the safe again, and tuts. ] Let me try that. Petty theft this may be, but I'll be damned if we leave them with anything.